Carmack: PC "A Unique Platform"

There's a
John Carmack Q&A on Computer and Video Games talking about Quake Live and
related topics in an interview that also gets responses from id executive
producer Marty Stratton. No conversation with the id Software Technical Director
is complete these days without asking his thoughts on the uncertain state of PC
gaming, and this one prompts an answer saying that developers need to appreciate "the PC as
a unique platform rather than a gaming machine that happens to be in your den
rather than your living room." He goes on to explain: "The traditional
big-budget, media-rich, single-player type games like we used to make at id
Software through to Doom 3, all that really has to be done cross-platform on the
consoles now, to basically cover the development expenses for something like
that. But the PC still has huge success stories, with things like The Sims 2 and
World of Warcraft, which have been bigger successes than any console game has
ever been, or possibly ever could be in the near future. At the end of the day,
you have to look at the PC as a platform with its own strengths and weaknesses."